Publications

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2014
Book

Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World

By: John P. Kotter

Based on the award-winning article in Harvard Business Review, from global leadership expert John Kotter. It's a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Organizational Structure

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13 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

‘Humblebragging’ is a Bad Strategy, Especially in a Job Interview

LaGuardia is number 15 for takeoff. I miss Air Force One!! And here's one from film director Lee Unkrich: Just in case you think all this has gone to my head, within 36 hours of winning the Oscar, I was back home plunging a clogged... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

March 2015 (Revised May 2018)
Case

JPMorgan Chase: Tapping an Overlooked Talent Pool

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

By the spring of 2014, the pilot had come to an end for JPMorgan Chase's ReEntry Program, a program designed for women coming back to the workforce after a period of time away. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of Asset Management, and her team had to evaluate whether or not... View Details

Keywords: Women; Training; Leadership; Motherhood; Talent and Talent Management; Experience and Expertise; Diversity; Gender; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Programs; Financial Services Industry; United States

24 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why the Internet Doesn’t Change Everything

before. And anarchy has always yielded back to law and order. In this excerpt from her new book, Ruling the Waves: Cycles of Discovery, Chaos, and Wealth from the Compass to the Internet, Spar looks to history to put the Internet... View Details

Keywords: by Debora L. Spar

May 2016
Case

The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988—2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2015, Walmart surprised investors by announcing that it expected flat sales growth for 2015 and growth of only 3% to 4% over the coming three years. Profits would also fall due to significant investments in people and technology. The company’s stock price... View Details

Keywords: Asda; Costco; David Glass; Convenience Stores; Discount Retailing; Dollar Stores; Doug McMillon; E-commerce; Online Retail; General Merchandise; Grocery; Lee Scott; Mike Duke; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Neighborhood Market; Sam Walton; Sam's Club; Store Formats; Supercenter; Supermarket; Warehouse Clubs; Merchandising; Walmart; Wal-Mart; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Banks and Banking; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business History; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Wages; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Web; Web Sites; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry; Banking Industry; United States; Arkansas; Bentonville

22 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How Business Strategy Tamed the “Invisible Hand”

individual entrepreneurs and organizations. But, in the age of M-form corporations, managing "implies responsibility for attempting to shape the economic environment, for planning, initiating, and carrying through changes in that economic environment, for... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Tales of the Newly-minted MBA

H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference to tell their stories—the ups, downs, and detours that brought them to where they are today. "I moved back home. That's where I started," said Joseph Williams (HBS MBA '99), cofounder of Wakefield... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

01 Apr 2020
Blog Post

The Product Design Sprint - 5 Things I Learned in Launch Lab 1

were required to run a “design sprint” – a structured and rigorous process for quickly identifying critical questions facing a venture, and rapidly developing multiple answers to these questions to test with stakeholders. A highlight of... View Details

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

Working PapersDiffusing Management Practices within the Firm: The Role of Information Provision Authors:Michael J. Lenox and Michael W. Toffel Abstract A key role of corporate managers is to encourage subsidiaries to adopt innovative practices. This paper examines... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2009
Article

Acting Globally but Thinking Locally? The Enduring Influence of Local Communities on Organizations

By: Christopher Marquis and Julie Battilana

We develop an institutionally oriented theory of how and why local communities continue to matter for organizations in a global age. Since globalization has taken center stage in both practitioner and academic circles, research has shifted away from understanding... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Business and Community Relations; Local Range; Civil Society or Community; Power and Influence

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September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details

22 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

How to Build a Better Board

As more and more corporate executives have been paraded on perp walks these last few years, a question has repeatedly been raised: Where was the board? After all, isn't it the board's responsibility to make sure the fox isn't hired to run... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

31 Jul 2015
Blog Post

Transitioning From the Military to Business School

Back in 2009 David Ulrey became a West Point graduate – five years later he made the move to Boston and joined the Class of 2016 at HBS. In the years before coming to business school, David was commissioned as a Financial Management... View Details

02 Dec 2015
Blog Post

Alumni: Where Are They Now? Featuring: Laura Mackay...

Current Position: VP of Operations, Fibroblast; formerly, VP of Strategy & Operations, NeoCare Solutions, a Healthagen Business (part of Aetna) Current Location: Chicago; formerly, NYC Tell us what you're up to these days. Right after graduation I moved View Details

Keywords: Technology; Health Care; Entrepreneurship

11 Jan 2016
Blog Post

Meet the Business and Environment Initiative

The Business and Environment Initiative (BEI) at HBS launched back in 2010. It was founded in order to educate business leaders about the environmental challenges and opportunities confronting businesses today and to help them design... View Details

The Big Ditch

On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened for business, forever changing the face of global trade and military power, as well as the role of the United States on the world stage. The Canal's creation is often seen as an example of U.S. triumphalism, but... View Details

August 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Pinnacle Ventures

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes a prospective "venture debt" loan to a new venture from the perspective of Patrick Lee, a principal at Pinnacle Ventures. Forces students to grapple with the nature of financial risk in the start-up firm and assess the prospective risks and returns to a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Business Startups; Financial Services Industry